LOS ANGELES – Andy Enfield strode into the postgame interview room on Saturday with the same gait as ever, assuming the same tight-lipped poker face that accompanies any result at the Galen Center, launching into a speech devoid of emotion and the same tone of a public information officer.
“Tough game for our players tonight,” USC’s head coach began, for it was.
And there was little way to tell, really, that this was the lowest point of Enfield’s USC tenure in about a decade. Fifth loss in a row. Utterly dismantled by an inconsistent UCLA team in a rivalry game on the Trojans’ home floor. Enfield, the stoic general who has long pivoted the USC’s men’s program from irrelevancy, cracked the same occasional smirk after the 65-50 loss to the Bruins that he did in an early-January win over Stanford when joking about his Just for Men shampoo.
“I’ve been in this game off and on a long time, and so, I’ve seen five-game losing streaks, I’ve seen five-game winning streaks,” Enfield said. “And we’ve had a lot of those here. And when things don’t go your way, you got to try to figure it out and keep improving.”
Here’s the problem: how, exactly?
All season long, UCLA had drawn the brunt of Los Angeles’ ire for a young, inexperienced group that hadn’t shown much cohesion under coach Mick Cronin. On Saturday, though, they seemed to gel while out-working USC – exposing the Trojans as the more flawed group in both execution and construction.
“Andy’s a great coach,” UCLA coach Mick Cronin said postgame Saturday. “Obviously, losing Collier threw everything off for them. They got too many guys in and out. Too many guys hurt, not hurt. And (Enfield) will find a way to right the ship. He always has, since I’ve been in LA.”
Sure, every one of USC’s starters has missed time with injury. Bronny James is still visibly ramping back from a devastating heart scare this summer. Isaiah Collier, the team’s freshman engine, has been…
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